Today the world is celebrating End Poverty Day. In fact, it is the 25th anniversary of End Poverty Day. Twenty-five years is often thought of as the passing of one generation so it is particularly timely that, as we celebrate the call to action that this day symbolizes, we look at how things have changed for the generation that has grown into adulthood since the very first End Poverty Day. In an analysis done by the World Bank released today we have looked at how the current generation of young adults has done when compared to their parents in terms of educational attainment.

Fears abound that automation and other advanced technologies will lead to job losses for lower-skilled workers in emerging economies and exacerbate inequality. Each new wave of technological progress is met with dire predictions. The most critic argue that the unprecedented pace of technological change today will have more dramatic effects on the future of work as new technologies (including robots and artificial intelligence) are increasingly replacing more educated workers and more cognitive and analytical work. At the same time, many economists argue that technology adoption will significantly increase firm productivity and result in job expansion, at least in the medium run under certain policy conditions. The impacts of technology adoption on overall employment and on the skills composition of occupations are ultimately an empirical question.

“Hurricane Irma was so big that the entire eye of the storm covered all [160km2] of Barbuda.”

So starts the chilling story by a Red Cross volunteer who rode out the Cat 5 storm at home on this island, that has been all but obliterated. Hurricane Irma was the first storm in recorded history that sustained a Cat 5 status for over 3 days.